Ricardo Gardner

Reggae Boyz captain Ricardo 'Bibi' Gardner is optimistic that the team can win this year's CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament, which will kick off in the United States from July 5-26.

"The team is very confident," Gardner said. "I think that we have the players and the staff to go out there and get the job done, hopefully this can bring us great rewards at the end."

"We have to take the Gold Cup as our World Cup because we missed out on this one and so we approach it with great expectations," said Gardner, who plies his trade for English Premier League club Bolton Wanderers.

Meanwhile, the Reggae Boyz received a boost of $10 million from the Social Development Foundation (SDF), along with the support of Minister of Sports Olivia 'Babsy' Grange ahead of their departure for the tournament yesterday.

The Jamaicans are drawn in Group A and will begin their campaign against Canada on Friday. The Theodore Whitmore- coached team then tackle Costa Rica in their second match four-days later before playing El Salvador in their final group stage match on the July 10.

Group B will feature Grenada, United States, Haiti and Honduras, while Group C has Panama, Mexico, Nicaragua and Guadeloupe.

Jamaica squad: goalkeepers - Donovan Ricketts, Dwayne Miller; defenders - Ricardo Gardner, Ian Goodison, Claude Davis, Damion Stewart, Tyrone Marshall, Eric Vernan, Rafe Wolfe; midfielders - Demar Phillips, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Jermaine Johnson, Jason Morrison, Rodolph Austin, Oneil Thompson; Forwards - Ricardo Fuller, Luton Shelton, Dane Richards, Nicholas Addlery and Omar Cummings.